Edmonton advances to West Division Final

Calgary, AB -- The Edmonton Rush knocked the defending National Lacrosse League champions out of the playoff dance with an 11-7 road win over the Calgary Roughnecks in a West Division semi-final Saturday afternoon at Pengrowth Saddledome.

The Rush, in their first-ever playoff game in franchise history, took lacrosse's Battle of Alberta in playoff style as goaltender Matt Disher stopped 60 shots and forward Ryan Ward (1G, 8A) supplied nine points as Edmonton halted Calgary's four-game win streak in the contest and eliminated the former champs in the first-round single-game elimination matchup.

With the victory, Edmonton advances to the West Division finals next weekend against the winner of the Washington Stealth/Minnesota Swarm game Saturday evening.

Ward led all scorers with nine points and Dean Hill (3G, 1A) fired a hat-trick in the win over the provincial rivals, while Gavin Prout (2G, 3A) and Andy Secore (2G, 3A) both had five points. Corey Small (2G) and Jimmy Quinlan (1G) also scored for Edmonton, while Dane Dobbie (3G, 1A) paced Calgary's attack with four points.

The Rush, outshot by Calgary 67-37, constantly had Disher bail them out with one of his most brilliant efforts this year to earn his first career playoff win.

"They threw a lot of rubber at us and obviously Matt Disher was the star of the game without question," said Rush head coach/GM Derek Keenan. "When Disher can see the ball he's going to make a lot of saves and he was able to see the ball tonight."

Disher, who out-dueled both Mike Poulin (10 GA on 33 shots) and Matt King of the Roughnecks in net, downplayed his performance Saturday, despite his 60-save effort.

"The guys in front of me did their job and hopefully, I did mine too," said the 33-year-old netminder. "A lot of the shots hit me and I don't think it was my best win, but maybe it was the most timely win for me.

"We knew coming into this game, we can play with anybody and this was our most composed game we had this year."

"We relied on Matt Disher, who had an incredible effort," said scoring star Ward. "And on offense, we were patient and capitalized on our chances."

Special teams also played as integral role for Edmonton as the Rush went 3-3 on the power-play and the penalty-kill unit held off Calgary's potent attack in all four attempts.

"I feel great for our power-play," said Keenan. "They've worked very hard at it the last part of the season. We didn't get a lot of opportunities, but when we did, we capitalized."

The Rush, who held a four-goal lead midway through the third quarter, were able to hold off Calgary's fourth quarter attack en route to the victory.

"We have a lot of winners on this team and we stayed composed and never panicked when Calgary got within one goal," said Ward. "Everyone contributed and that's what we need to go deep into the playoffs."

Prout opened the scoring for Edmonton 3:20 into the first quarter on the power-play as his sidewinder found the mark with Calgary's Mike Carnegie in the box and then the Rush power-play converted again at 7:34 as Ward fired his first of the game to put Edmonton up 2-0.

The Rush continued the run as Hill poked in a loose ball behind Poulin with less than three minutes remaining in the frame and Edmonton then held off Calgary for the remainder of the quarter to lead 3-0 after 15-minutes.

It was the first time this season the Rush held the opposition to zero goals against in the opening quarter.

The Roughnecks then quickly closed the gap in the second quarter as Calgary scored two goals in a 36-second span, before Quinlan tallied back for Edmonton at 3:42 off a nifty feed from Ward to put the Rush up 4-2.

Edmonton scored four goals on their first 10 shots on net.

Ward continued his hot hand as he assisted on Hill's second goal of the game, with 1:42 remaining in the half, as Edmonton extended their lead to 5-2.

Calgary outshot the Rush 33-16 in the half and Disher made 31 saves, while Ward had one goal and four assists.

Dobbie started the scoring in the third quarter with his second of the game, at 2:17, to close the gap to 5-3, then Small reestablished Edmonton's three-goal lead just over two-minutes later with a left-handed tally.

Edmonton then took their biggest lead of the game, as Prout fired his second goal of the game at 5:40 of the frame, to lead 7-3, before Calgary's Kelusky nailed a buzzer-beater to end the third frame with Edmonton up by three goals.

The Roughnecks then continued their run early in the fourth quarter as Heavenor and Dobbie both scored in the opening minute to close the score to 7-6 and then Edmonton's Secore added to the lead with a power-play marker three-minutes in as his left-handed blast beat Poulin between the legs.

Both clubs continued to trade goals as Toth scored for Calgary and then Edmonton went on a run as Secore sniped his second of the quarter at 8:32 to regain Edmonton's two-goal lead and then Hill notched his hat-trick goal with just under five minutes remaining as the Rush went up 10-7.

Small closed the scoring out with his second of the game, at 14:19, to put the contest on ice with Edmonton up 11-7.

RUSH MESH:The Rush carried a four-game road winning mark into the game ... EDM is now 4-13 all-time record versus CGY ... Edmonton had a 5-3 record both home and on the road during the regular season ... Chris McElroy, Ryan McNish, Dane Stevens, Scott Tinning and John Lintz did not dress.

Story by Bruce Rakoczy